Today, I will be posting musicians that I like. Yes, musicians I like. Now, why I have to reiterate that, I don’t know. Maybe for dramatic effect.

Today, let’s start with Tori Amos.

I like her a lot! Ever since… I don’t know. I just did. I’ve known her from high school, Jackie’s Strength. I liked it even if it isn’t a very manly song. Then, I started to hear other songs. Very original and unlike anyone else’s. She sing songs that tell a story, sometimes sweet, surreal, tragic or dark, at times even disturbing.

I was just listening to her ’97 Bonnie and Clyde cover. I can’t believe how she transformed an Eminem song into a creepy, thriller-type song. I am dumbfounded.

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Then, The Dresden Dolls, the duo of Brian Viglione and Amanda Palmer. They’re androgynous and spunky. I really like this photo below. Their music really speaks to me. I think these two are one of the more individualistic musicians out there, and they’re pretty beautiful.

Amanda has a fun blog and released a solo album that’s quite good.

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Manowar! I was once looking for something to read about gods, and I was able to find their Gods of War album. Many weeks later, and many re-listens after, I’ve grown to love them. I love mythology, and they are using it in a lot of their music. I learned that they weren’t a really popular band, but  was enough to have one of their music in the 300 soundtrack.

Then, I was curious how they looked like.

Boy! I was not prepared for that!

They must really want to be vikings. They really remind me more of WWF wrestlers from my childhood. Then I thought, why not? I really like them. Parang ako lang, may sayad! Yes, I still like to listen music from them.

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Going ahead, Ours. Ours reminds me of Muse and of Dishwalla, but they’re still different. Yeah! They are my favorite band yet!

This time I am out of words, I just listen to them and the rest of the world stops and I just get trapped inside their songs. Hehehe.

Now that’s enough for now. Maybe another batch next time.

So, I will be recommending stuff that I really like. Little thinking required in writing the post.

Books

• Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. One of the best Murakami books I have read and all Murakami books I have read, I really like. This is something I’d recommend if you’re not into the whole whiny feel (that I happen to like a lot, thank you) that is well-known in his books. Part-fantasy and part-postmodern (I am not really sure if the world scifi applies to this really cool book), it made me almost cry. The last part was breath-taking. I have no words to describe how cool it is. Go ahead, read it, relish it and spread his awesomeness. If you hate the book, you are stupid and you don’t have taste.
• The Sandman Vol. 2 The Doll’s House. It is the first from the volumes I have read and while browsing through a forum it said to be one of the best. And with little knowledge of the whole story arc at that time, I was immediately hooked. Some people don’t like the illustrations but I really did, it grows in you. It is the book that Gaiman says he has found his voice. It makes reference the bzou (if you are familiar with my online activity, you’ll get it). There’s a convention for serial killer and so much more. There are character’s here that you won’t easily forget.Costs around Php 900.00 though.

Anime

• Death Note. It’s good just plain good. The story was excellent and the animation was exceptional. The antihero (named Light) is immediately likable but I started to despise him when he started going megalomaniac, then like him again during the middle part, then loathed him again after he killed his arch nemesis. Basta ang galing! If you like the same characters that I do in fiction you are gonna go crazy over L (it doesn’t stand for Light) . His early departure made me want to cry.
• Basilisk. A story of 2 rival Ninja Clans. Two fall in love. It’s like Romeo and Juliet gone violent. A lot of killing that I really like, the action sequences were breathtaking. Episode 1 pa lang panalo na! And it does make a good observation about hate, prejudice and other aspects of being human. Did I mention? There was a lot of violence.

Movies

• Gattaca. I don’t know why I have just seen this only recently, may have missed it for reasons I don’t know. It’s just how I like my futuristic movies to be like. Sends an interesting message about on how our reliability on science let’s us overlook other stuff. It’s really nice. Not that I am anti-science, sometimes there are things like faith. Not that I now believe in you know what, I don’t think the movie also sends that message. It’s inspiring. Really.

Internet

• esnips. It’s a great means to do some file-sharing. E-books, pictures, music, etc. But you can make public or private.
• Utrackmovies. I have my librarything for my books and I have Utrack for my movies. I still haven’t finished updating my collection but you can visit it, click here and enter jeeper for password. By the way, my movies wouldn’t really be considered inside some of the categories it’s in kasi nga marami sa kanila nabili ko lang sa mga gilid-gilid ng St. Francis Square. Dapat natin bawasan ang pagbili ng pirated DVDs. Hehehe.

Music

I don’t listen much to modern music these days. I am listening to a lot of old songs right now, Stone Temple Pilot and The Carpenters. I am really amused by Karen Carpenter’s voice. Let me listen right now. Man! I can’t get over listening to Superstar.

PS

I am still working on my new domain, there were some problems with the SSL of my registrar. They said they’ll manually make some changes on it. So, yeah. I am still waiting for their email. I should have sent them a word earlier. And I was thinking,I may have done something stupid.

I don’t read books as much as I used to. And I don’t read much anymore. Sometimes I think my brain is degenerating. Sometimes I am struggling whether or not this is what I really want.

I was finally able to finish Pratchett and Gaiman’s Good Omens (after so long). I noticed that it takes me much longer to finish light books than reading the more serious ones. Anyways, Good Omens was a good one… it was funny. The end of the world but Crowley (he’s the serpent) and Aziraphale (an angel) got too attached to the world and wants to stop the end from coming and the Antichrist was misplaced. Pinalitan pala yung isa sa horsemen ng Apocalypse… Pestilance was changed to Pollution. Wala lang, naaliw lang ako.

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I have been watching a lot of DVDs. Kasi pinaputol ng aking ina yung cable sa bahay. Basta, sabi niya mag-contribute kami, ako naman minsan na lang ako manood at bakit ako ang magbabayad, let me wrestling-addicted brother pay for it. Hahaha! Na-mi-miss ko na tuloy yung mga hayop na naglalapaan.

Dumami yung collection ko ng anime. Minsan na-gi-guilty ako na illegal ang mga binili ko, then I try to get over it. I like Japanese anime, lalo na yung my mature themes. Kanina dapat kunting episodes lang ng Death Note ang panonoorin ko pero nakakaadik. And Tenjo Tenge! Grabe, medyo twisted nga yung medyo incestual relationsship ni Maya at Shin but it is touching.

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Pag may nanghihiram ng iPod ko, nahihiya ako ipahiram. dahil unlike ibang players sa iPod shuffle, random ang pag-play ng music, medyo nahihiya ako sa mga tao (na normal or malayo ang taste sa music) kesa sa akin.

I’d like to think na may taste ako pero di lahat na-a-appreciate yung mga gusto ko. Tulad ng kanta ni Enya at ni Annie Lennox. Meron nga akong mg Nirvana, Aerosmith at kung anu-ano pang mga popular na kanta doon pero minsan magugulat na lang sila pagpumapasok yung mga tugtog ni Bach after ng Digital Love (I really love the music from Discovery and the videos are also great).

Pero bakit nga ba ako nahihiya?! Eh yun naman talaga yung trip ko! Kasi… ewan ko nahihiya lang talaga ako. So what do I say when people borrow it? NO.
Pahiram naman niyan?
“Ayoko nga!”

Amidst my attempts to fit in the world (this socializing thing is a lot of work), I try to read from time to time just so that I won’t feel too wrapped up by work . Since working, I do not read much anymore, Red Dust and that Bill Bryson book (about three-quarters finished) is gathering dust by my bedside.

Going to work with a book that doesn’t really feel good, bad enough that I am a loner already dagdagan mo pa ng pagiging bookish baka lalong madetach ako sa co-workers ko. Geek na Geek ang dating. I am currently something more normal now na nahiram ko… Silence of the Lambs (as if that qualifies as normal, at least madaming taong nababasa nun). I guess people found me weird and morbid nung nakita nila yung mga book sa bag ko last week (The Virgin Suicides).

So I was planning not to buy books for awhile (allocating the money for my gain-weight plan). Pero nakita ko yung Good Omens ni Pratchett at Gaiman sa Powerbooks (one copy na lang!) and I knew I will regret it if I don’t buy it since I was on the lookout for that since last year. So being the dork that I am, binili ko na rin. Syet! I will be cutting down on my food this week dahil bumili rin ako ng X-Men series, Pan’s Labyrinth at Prison Break (it’s for my Mom) DVD, kahit pirated yun, it’s still money.

I should really stop passing by Malls.

Anyways, if anybody here knows a nice MP3 download site, leave me a message. I am looking for Enrique Iglesias’s Por Amarte, hirap na hirap ako maghanap ng free download site na meron nito. I know what some of you are thinking… basta I love that fucking song mula nang pinalabas yung Marisol na telenovela sa channel 2 (sorry wala akong makitang matino na link).

I was listening to some old songs and I can’t believe I digged Spice Girls songs back in my High School days (how times fly, I am now 23). Now I hardly listen to anything that sound that way. And I’d see videos by The Backstreet Boys and I now wonder what was so cool about that. I try to listen to them now and I can’t bear it. I don’t even listen to R&B except maybe Alicia Keys music before she became mainstream. But the 90s has really great bands and I love them. Like the Cranberries, Smashing Pumpkins and Radiohead. I love Creep, the anthem of misfits out there. How I wish I was special.

By the way, how come some people don’t appreciate songs until everybody starts liking them. I remember listening to Evanescence’s My Immortal before everybody started liking it. I said to one of my classmates how much I loved the song, she said “ayoko nun, nakakaantok,” one week later, she starts loving it.

It’s odd that I listen to Classical Music, wala sa hitsura ko and it’s not something I am an expert of. And don’t ask me for titles, I can’t remember much of them. Basta lokong-loko ako sa music ni Bach. May CD ako sa bahay na pinatutugtog ako.

Back to the songs that I never get tired of hearing. Mono’s Life in Mono. I loved it the first time I heard it and I still love it today. The past month, I have been listening to the song everyday when I am on the computer.

Is it only me that gets turned on with this one:

This, I think, is the only video I know that makes me feel like a pervert. Two cute girls (I love the brunette) wearing school uniforms soaking wet in the rain and kissing. I don’t know if it is due to heavy exposure to Japanese anime with the nymphets in uniforms or maybe I just need therapy. It’s actually a great song. But I can’t get over the video.

And the Cranberries’s Ode to my Family.
That doo-doot-doot sound jsut gets to me all the time.
I do listen to modern music like, uh, Coldplay! At nakikinig rin ako ng tagalog tulad ng Apo Hiking Society, naghahanap nga ako ng T-shirt na may larawan nila.

Hanggang dito na muna parang bigla akong napagod.